


Read My Lips (I want to kiss you)

by orphan_account



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Doing naughty things in the palace garden, M/M, Non-dysphoric non-transitional trans man apprentice, Trans man apprentice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:27:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26134195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Labiomancy (divination using someone's lips) sounds suggestive as all hell, and Lucio is gonna use it to flirt with the apprentice.
Relationships: Apprentice/Lucio (The Arcana)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Read My Lips (I want to kiss you)

**Author's Note:**

> My friend, CaptainBragd, drew a picture of [Keturah](https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/1705937)! Go commission [them](https://commiss.io/captainbragd)!

“Labiomancy?” Lucio quirked an eyebrow at Keturah as Keturah stood from the bush he was pruning white roses from and dusted dirt off of his skirt. “What’s that?”

“Lip reading. The way someone’s lips move. How they’re shaped and blemishes on their lips can be used for divination.”

Lucio smirked lecherously and bit his lip as he thought of a dirty joke after hearing that. When Keturah walked over to him to place the basket of roses down, Lucio chuckled. “When you say ‘lips,’ do you mean someone’s lips–” He motioned to his face. “—or their… lips?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Keturah’s face bloomed into a deep shade of red. “Lucio!” Keturah swatted Lucio’s shoulder hard enough that he would feel it, but not to hurt him. It had taken him months to stop calling Lucio ‘Count Lucio’ and just call him by his name, and Lucio loved it. He did everything he could to get Keturah to call out his name more, especially teasing him. “Their lips!” Lucio’s smile grew wide, and he tilted his head, silently asking him to elaborate. “Their lips on their face!”

“Okay, but I bet there’s a method of divination that uses the other types of lips.” Lucio plucked a petal from one of the flowers in the basket. “I’m almost certain some people use sex as a way of divination.”

“I suppose. It’s not unlikely, but I haven’t met anyone who does that.”

“Maybe you could be the first.” Lucio purred.

Keturah tied his hair back into its usually afro puff to try to hide his ever reddening face. It didn’t take Lucio long to pursue Keturah after he became the palace magician and moved in. Lucio was relentless in his seduction, finding any and every excuse to touch and flirt with the apprentice, but Keturah preferred to sleep with close friends, and while Lucio wasn’t his enemy, they weren’t friends. He barely knew him. Though, after spending more time with him, accompanying him on hunts with Mercedes and Melchior, being invited to eat with him and talk to each other more and more, and letting Lucio watch him perform magic, Keturah could say they were becoming closer now than they were a couple of months ago. Keturah considered Lucio a friend, but did Lucio feel the same way, or was Keturah just someone he could coquet with while Nadia was off having tea with Portia in their room behind a locked door for hours on end, only to return with rumpled clothing and messy hair?

Lucio’s and Nadia’s marriage was a farce, but they couldn’t really leave each other – what would happen to Vesuvia? Most likely nothing, but they both decided to keep up this charade for their country while they went off and were intimate with other people.

“I’ll stick with facial lip readings.”

Lucio shrugged. “If you say so.” Lucio blew the rose petal he was pinching between his prosthetic pointer finger and thumb away, and as he watched it flutter back into the basket, he was struck with the greatest idea he had ever concocted.

“You should give me a lip reading.”

“Now?”

“No times like the present and all that.” Lucio twirled his wrist dismissively, fluttering his eyes, and smirked at Keturah. He probably thought he was being slick, but Keturah could see right through him. Keturah knew what people thought of labiomancy; he’d heard all of the perverse jokes and been asked every dirty question about his form of divination. So, Keturah decided to play along because he figured that, yes, he was ready.

“Hm…” He pretended to think it over and drag this out since Lucio wasn’t a patient person. Keturah could be teasing, too. “Yes, this should be interesting.”

Keturah abandoned his flowers and stood in front of Lucio as he continued to lounge in one of the garden chairs.

“Stand up. I don’t want to bend over to read your lips.”

Lucio cleared his throat. “But I’m so comfortable here. Why don’t you…” Trailing off, Lucio gripped Keturah’s hips, he dragged him down until he was in his lap. “There we go.” Lucio said nonchalantly, as if Keturah being in his lap was something that has happened thousands of times.

Keturah’s heart drummed against his chest, and judging by the thumping coming from Lucio’s chest, which was squished against Keturah’s breasts, so was Lucio’s. Lucio tried to pretend that he wasn’t affected by being straddled, but his blush gave him away.

“Are we doing this?” Lucio asked, his fingers tightening slightly on Keturah’s hips.

“Of course.” Keturah leaned forward and focused on Lucio’s lips. Keturah could see a tiny scar that ran down the middle of Lucio’s bottom lip. It had faded immensely, and you could only see it if you were inches away from Lucio’s face, but it was there.

“What are my lips telling you?” Lucio whispered, eyes gleaming mischievously and lips curling into a grin.

“Nothing, yet.” Keturah rubbed his thumb over Lucio’s bottom lip, pretending to examine it closer. “You need to ask me a question.”

“Of course.” Lucio exhaled shakily, and he blushed so much that Keturah was almost afraid that he would pass out from the heat. “Can I kiss you?” Lucio asked, pulling Keturah closer until their lips were inches away, simultaneously waiting for and preparing to act when the answer came.

No words were spoken, however. Instead, Keturah leaned forward and pressed the softest of kisses to Lucio’s lips, soft and chaste, until Lucio deepened the kiss, grabbing Keturah’s face and biting his bottom lip. Keturah yelped, not expecting the bite, but wanting more. He gripped Lucio’s lapels and pushed it open more than it already was and ran his hands over his chest, just wanting to touch as much of his skin as he could. Keturah gasped when he felt Lucio’s lips on his neck.

“Don’t leave any marks.” Keturah moaned.

“No marks? Ah, that’s no fun.” Lucio pretended to pout, but he was smiling.

“Asra will see.”

“Couldn’t you just magic them away?”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Well, you better learn how ‘cause I’m gonna mark you everywhere.” Lucio chuckled when Keturah blushed at his remark, so he gave Keturah’s neck a quick peck. “But alright, no marks.”

Keturah sighed in relief, and before he could thank him, Lucio quickly added, “On your neck.” Then, taking hold of Keturah’s linen top, Lucio brought the top up, exposing Keturah in the garden.

“Lucio!” Keturah yelped and pushed his blouse back down, but not before Lucio ducked his head down and pressed it against Keturah’s chest, nuzzling his face against the soft skin like a dog, then took one of Keturah’s nipples into his mouth, sucking softly before clamping his teeth around it and tugged, trying to get Keturah to make more noises, moan, whine, whimper, tell him to keep going, tell him what he needed him to do to him.

Keturah opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a familiar voice calling out to him. It was distant, but not too far away. He pushed himself off of Lucio’s lap and quickly started to straighten himself up, push his skirt down so it didn’t bunch up against his hips, rubbed his hands down his shirt in hopes of wiping the wrinkles off, and fixed his bun that had gotten lopsided. Lucio didn’t move from his seat, didn’t attempt to put his clothes back in order or push his hair back to its original slicked-back position, just watched Keturah fuss over himself, an amused smile on his face.

Just as Keturah picked up his basket of roses, Asra descended the stairs that lead to the garden. “Ah, there you are, Keturah.” Asra smiled warmly at his apprentice, and while he did notice Lucio sitting in the chair that was turned away from him, he paid Lucio no mind.

“I’m here!” Keturah announced with a smile and waved cheerfully as Asra.

“I’m also here.” Lucio said as he stood up from his seat, still disheveled and stood next to Keturah. The two locked eyes for a second before the apprentice looked back at Asra, but Lucio continued to stare at him, a smug smile still on his face. Asra’s eyes briefly scanned Lucio’s body, noticing the way he was presenting his disarranged appearance, but he said nothing about it, and looked back at Keturah.

“I see you’ve picked yourself some flowers.”

“Ah, yes. Well, no, not for me. They’re for Lucio. I’m making him a bottle of perfume.”

“Well, that’s very nice of you.” Asra’s smile was forced. His apprentice couldn’t tell, but Lucio could, and he was living for Asra’s obvious disapproval. “I hate to interrupt, but I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the markets.”

Keturah nodded, but hesitated. “Yes… Yes. I would love to, Asra.” He turned to Lucio and bowed at his count. “Thank you for accompanying me in the garden. I’ll get back to creating your perfume when I return. So, please be a little bit more patient.”

Lucio shrugged, not looking bothered at all. “I can wait. You did say it would take a year to make the perfume anyway. A few more hours aren’t going to kill me.”

Asra knew, from years of knowing Lucio, that he couldn’t wait a few more hours. Hell, he could barely wait a few seconds for something he wanted. Why he was pretending to be the beacon of composure was beyond Asra. After saying their salutations, Asra and Keturah left Lucio behind in the garden, along with the basket of roses that Keturah asked him to watch over them while he was gone. To his credit, he walked around the palace with the basket under his arm, and when he wasn’t holding the basket, Mercedes and Melchior kept watch over it.


End file.
